Reviews

if you're expecting a typical small mom'n pop Vietnamese restaurant. They had: Q-FM playing in the back, frosted windows that cover the lower third of the windows, semi-transparent lace doilies just above the frosted windows, glass on top of the tables which prevented spills and soiling of photographed menu items, communal lazy-susan-type chopstick and soup spoon holders on the table, bright fluorescent lighting with white walls. I'd say this was like the Vietnamese version of a North American mom'n pop greasy spoon.

While I only had their subs, and thus can't give you my opinion on other food items, I'll comment on these alone this time and will say more on a future review. The subs...hmmm. They were okay, the bread seemed not to be baked on premises as there was the not the fresh smell of baking wafting in the air, the size was again okay ( not tiny nor gargantuan ) when compared to other places, the taste was what I expected.

The guy who took my order was friendly, he chatted me up a bit and I'd have no problem going back to this place again. Nuff said.

I stopped here to do a pick up for the family as I wasn't in the mood to cook dinner, also I walk past this place everyday to and from work and thought I'd give it a try. There's usually not many patrons whenever I pass by ( could be the time of day? ), definitely much more day-to-day foot traffic when you look through StarBucks window next door.

We've been to this restaurant various times for Dim Sum, one of their fancier fixed dinner menus, and take-out various times.

The women who serve us are usually quite polite, quick, and good-natured; one of them actually spoke the same small-village-peasant-dialect-seldom-heard-Cantonese that I grew up with and am accustomed to. That in itself tells me the kind of staff that work here: simple, hard working, upfront and direct. This can also be applied to the food and decor.

Simple decor and food. There's a t.v. in the wall, hand written menus on the walls, slightly chipped and scratched paint on the walls, in other words the walls need painting. About a half dozen larger round tables, 8-10 smaller tables all with really used off white tablecloths to eat off of and vinyl padded chairs ( some ripped ) to sit on.

The food is cheap if you're in for Dim Sum and the quality is not bad ( but neither does it blow you away either ), thus the throngs of small-village-peasant-type- Chinese- folk there. Regarding dinner you'll get an average, to a slightly below average, Cantonese meal. Like Dim Sum it's okay but there's not any offerings nor any tastes in the food that make your palate sing.

If you do eat here you won't be disappointed if you expect working class Canton food, ambiance and service

Yup, I remember it well: well worn vinyl bench seats, some having rips in them, about a dozen booths, about six tables with four chairs around each table, a couple of large rounds to accommodate larger parties, bright white fluorescent lights, spartanly decorated restaurant, small cramped somewhat outdated washroom, simple Chinese music in the background, Chinese kitchen staff bringing items out intermittently. Wait a second, that wasn't 30 years ago, that was tonight!

The female servers were really nice, polite, English speaking, smiley, and constantly offering more tea/water. It was a pleasure to find a Chinese restaurant where you didn't have the food thrown at you, receive the "Chinese Scowl" or feel the tenseness from a server either in tone-of-voice or physical action. These women were all great.

The food was solid, no complaints; although if there was a bit more variety in the ingredients within each dish that we ordered it would have been a bit better ( perhaps it was our fault, maybe we should have made different choices?) . Having said that the dishes we ordered were done very well, all were done to how I expect a Cantonese Chinese restaurant in this price range to offer. If I was to compare this restaurant to say Hon's or a take out place like Kent's Kitchen I much prefer the quality of food from Mui Garden. There's less of a MSG aftertaste, and not so much of a greasy taste in their food. Good job.

Three dishes @ $33 was more than enough to feed the three of us and I'm sure we'll come back again. And oh yeah, the ambiance wasn't that bad it's more like a frugal Chinese diner that you'd find in Chinatown only here it's mid-Main.

The husband & wife team who run this little sushi joint used to run a sushi restaurant on Main St. which is currently occupied by Simply Delicious ( I think? ). I haven't seen this tagteam couple for about 8 years and in the past we did enjoy the friendliness and warmth they always offered us.

Let me go on to cover my basic impressions:

(a) The food wasn't very good, pretty big rolls i.e., salmon/tuna/california, the rice was too mushy without proper seasoning resulting in an off taste. The seaweed was too chewy as well.

(b) Service was pretty standard as we did a take out, they are polite and they do smile :) Hard to get this aspect wrong and unfortunately lots of take out places do :(

(c)The value was not quite there given the somewhat substandard quality of their food.

(d)The atmosphere inside is that of a very-frugal-put-in-cheapy-plastic-tables-cheapy-wooden/plastic-chairs-and-jam-in-as-many-as-possible-given-the-small-space. Not a great place to dine in if you're one who is interested in great views ( J.O. High School is there for your main viewing pleasure ) or authentic Japanese decor. These guys are your ubiquitous non-Japanese made sushi-tors, Chinese. You could just as easily substitute Chinese for Korean, Vietnamese et al, sushi in Vancouver is becoming the fast food du jour.

On a side note, IMHO, there's nothing wrong with non-Japanese sushi places making my sushi, it is most important though that they have the food tasty and of good quality. Wakame Sushi fails here.

This well-worn shop offers many of pastries from my youth, so going in here was like a step into the past. The store has only one outdoor plastic table and several garden chairs to sit on if you want to eat in, needless to say it's probably better to do a take out.

There's standup fridges to the right of the entrance with various take-home-and-heat-items and glass covered goodies to the front and left. The variety is much like all the other ubiquitous Chinese pastry shops you'll find all over Chinatown, Richmond, etc.

The quality of the food was as rated to the right: solid. As was the service, nothing outstanding and nothing off-putting, solid. Value... well you get the picture, solid.

If you have a hankering for good ole reliable Chinese pastries at a reasonable price then drop by if you're in the hood, you won't be disappointed.

Watching this guy ( Byron ) move in and around his section was interesting, he took care and mingled with the patrons easily all the while doing the necessary requirements: taking orders, serving, cleaning. It was his ease in conversing and appropriately timed goofiness that made being in his section enjoyable. The guy

Now having said the above, I wish the food and ambiance followed the same suit. In a nutshell the food was below average, $12 burgers, $10 caesar salad, kids' dishes, all not very unsavoury. Blah, small portions i.e. unlimited fries but why not fill the cheapy plastic basket initially rather than giving 6-7 fries and then forcing customers to ask for more? No "wow" in the taste or presentation. I bet if you looked into the kitchen you'd see mostly young people who were given their first job.

The place was filled with a motley mix of families with young kids, young people grabbing the ubiquitous burger joint fare, after work crowd having drinks, and post Metrotown shoppers.

The decor hasn't changed since I first went to a RR in the early 90's, so no need to comment more on this subject.

If you just want cheap alcoholic drinks & boring appies in a 90's setting then you won't be disappointed. Unfortunately I'm way past being this easily impressed.

We went in on a Friday for takeout around 4pm and noticed there were only two tables being occupied out of about dozen or so small tables and no others lined up for takeout, I guess that's not uncommon for this time of day. A large screen t.v. was on the wall in front of us as we entered playing something which seemed ill-chosen for a dining room ( I always wonder why Asian restaurants think that having t.v.'s make for better food consumption? ). It appeared that the wooden chairs and tables were of the cheap variety, and quickly glancing about the room you got the sense that the aura of the restaurant was of a simple no frills eatery.

The waitress immediately greeted us and had the takeout order sitting by the till. She was very smiley and cheerful and quickly calculated our bill. We happily left with a rather heavy feeling bag and headed home to peruse the order. Immediately upon opening the containers I noticed that some rolls were missing, I added up the cost of what everything in the bag should have been and
something was off. Phoning back the same waitress who originally took my order over the phone, and who greeted me at the door answered the phone. She repeated my original order ( I know she missed my rolls, but she was so sweet I didn't have the heart to correct her ), I asked her to calculate what the cost was and she quoted $3 less than what I paid. Immediately she realized her mistake apologized sincerely and stated that I'd be reimbursed upon my return, I told her she could keep the overcharge as a tip because it was too much of an inconvenience to return again for such a small amount. She said next time we ordered she'd reimburse us, in my mind there's no need but I appreciate the kind heartedness and sincerity.

After all that the House Roll was really big, the California Roll was comparable to Samurai's but without Samurai's mega-dose of its MSG like substance which leaves you thirsting for water afterwards. The tuna and salmon were more regular sized. All-in-all the food tasted pretty good.

The wife and I darted in here for lunch without our two usual cling-ons ( kids ) and really enjoyed ourselves. It was 1pm and pretty much all the tables were taken, the waitress quickly cleaned and wiped down ( with proper cleaning solution out of a spray bottle no less ) our table.

The buffet lunch was very well stocked with a dozen hot items, chicken, beef, rice, vegetables, samosas. The cold side had two desserts ( I think it was two as I always skip dessert ), chick peas, a salad akin to Greek, cold broccoli, cut up fruit salad, and some more items. Let's just leave it as a good selection for both hot and cold sides.

The Mrs. went to Mezbaan last week and commented that in terms of food flavour, restaurant decor, food variety, and value Saffron hands down is a much superior Indian restaurant. I myself haven't had Indian food for quite some time and was throughly satisfied with our lunch.

The waitresses were reliable when it came to filling our water glasses and taking away our dirty plates. The only table seated outside, a group of six guys, were seen trying to flag down a server a few times; we were not ignored whatsoever. The servers weren't chatty at all, more of an efficient team of women whose goals were to feed, water, clean, bill, set tables, nothing wrong with this. It was lunch and I suspect dinner service is more personal.

The room was clean with tables quite close to each other and no partitions. Not really a place for a quite business meeting, more of a casual dining room. Interestingly through the back you could get pizza from the same kitchen making our luch. The room adjoining our dining room was setup as a pizza joint; trying to reel in those not into Indian food I guess.

We stopped in here after picking up some garden supplies nearby. We've had some of the Asian pastries at Tiem Banh before and found them quite decent and reasonable priced, this time we gave on of their subs a try. For the price, $2.75, you get your money's worth! The House Special which we choose was served on a very crunchy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside-bread, nice pate with pork, vegetables, and turkey ( or was it chicken? ). While the size of the bread is somewhat smaller ( and thus less quantity of filling ) than Subway's, located on the next block, you get a much tastier sandwich at a much reduced price compared to Subway's.

There's not really anywhere in the shop to sit and eat, as the store is more designed for you to pick up and go. Some of the pastry items in the display case seemed a little old, always try to pick popular items as you'll be sure that they're freshly made. When in doubt just ask the counter person what was made the same day.

The women behind the counter are pleasant enough, no negative comments from us whatsoever.

My advice: stop in for a tasty and value packed sandwich and skip Subway!

Dinner here was a nice experience, the restaurant was not terrible busy as there were only about 10 other tables dining. The decor has a darkish wood feel , accented with lighter pine and Asian touches throughout the room. Three young men were making the sushi, and there were four waitresses ( they were pleasant and took care of our wants expeditiously )and one male waiter with a manager and female bartende. So lots of attention was paid to service: being polite, smiles, having the food come out at intervals and not all at once, refills of water/tea, and not a typical AYCE-slam-the-food-on-the-table-and-run-to-the-next-order-table-service.

The food was average at best, while there is a great deal to choose from nothing really made you think that it was memorable or outstanding. Good, not great.

Adults were $20.95 and kids4-9 were $12.95.

If you were downtown and going to have lunch here I'd say it'd be advisable ( interesting to see how busy it gets ). Dinner? Maybe and maybe not, it'd depend on how hungry you were and how much food you really want to eat.

lots of other Chinese patrons, you usually can't go wrong and in this case we didn't.

Other than the long wait ( even though we had a reservation another group with the same last name argued that it was their's and not ours *hint* add your phone number as well when making a reservation ), 45 minutes, everything was very nice.

The servers were all very smiley, willing to offer a few small chit-chat words, helpful, and quick considering all the tables were taken. Very good considering some Chinese restaurants offer the most deplorable service, I'm sure most of you have encountered this.

The food was very, very fresh and hot. While we ordered nothing really extravagant or unique, house fried rice- house chow mein-haw gaos-sui mi-egg rolls-spare ribs-prawns in rice rolls, everything was packed full flavor and not the MSG variety. Lots of prawns given for those of you whom love seafood.

They had a big screen t.v. on one wall playing the strangest ( or is it typical? ) Chinese variety of shows. The kids and wife kept raising their eyes to see what was coming up next.

Cactus, Earl's, Joey's, Brown's, Milestone's, Yada-Yada-Yada. Do these guys try in any way to differentiate themselves from each other? The cookie cutter blue print for restaurants surely thrives in 2009.

I went with a buddy who asked the server if she could recommend a certain chicken sandwich he had before. She said that all chicken burgers were similar to the sandwiches only the name might be different on the menu. Okay so my friend ordered what she suggested, during the quality check she states that they can specially order from the kitchen what my friend originally wanted. Okay...

In her defense she did okay, not bad, not really good, adequate.

The decor was the ubiquitous dark wood, dark interior, bar in the middle of the room= B-O-R-I-N-G. Been there, seen that.

The place is okay to just hang out in, but if you're looking to impress someone go elsewhere.

We received a take out Gift Certificate from a friend of ours to use at this restaurant ( of course we had to use it ). The Chinese made sushi was just okay, while we finished eating what we ordered the food really lacked any taste that would make us ever want to order from this restaurant again.

The guy at the counter didn't exude very good customer service skills. Very blah.

The layout of the tables and decor was very simplistic and spartan without making you want to stay and dine in. No thought in trying to add colour, texture, lighting etc. to the decor. This is an all too familiar failure with people who think that all you have to do to become a successful restauranteur is: "make food, sell food, get money."

We do take out from the Fraser St Samuri Sushi because:
-The counter girl(s) are much friendlier, polite ( I still remember having to deal with ole-Sour-puss-middle-aged-Vietnamese counter person at Cambie SS ) over the phone & when picking up orders. We happily leave them a tip!
-The quality if okay, obviously not genuine nor of the highest grade of fish used; therefore we buy when the people we're feeding are not particularly sushi connaisseurs.
-As you may have figured out from the other posts the one main draw for this restaurant is the size of some of their sushi, REALLY BIG.
-The prices are reasonable given the size of rolls.
-The interior design and layout of the restaurant is not conducive for eating enjoyment.

Alright, maybe I'm being too critical of this restaurant...then again this site does ask for customers' critiques.

We went to dinner here with another family and while I expected a Denny's-ish experience I was somewhat disappointed:
-The food as Seinfeld would say "what is up with eating breakfast food for dinner?" A big turnoff that's what.
-The dinner items that we did order were done appetizingly enough; although there was inconsistentency with portion sizes.

The service was fine, the waiter was new and was being assisted, directed, schooled by a more veteran server. He was definitely trying and was both courteous and speedy, so was his "handler."

It was moderately clean, hint to other diners always judge a dining establishment by the cleanliness of its washrooms.

I probably won't be dining here again unless we're going with others' wishes to dine at "ISLOP."

My wife recently went to White Spot @ Oakridge first and commented how lame it's menu and decor is. I took the kids to White Spot on Cambie and after eating there I have to agree with her 100%. Denny's is a much better restaurant given that they both used to go after the same type of clientele. Denny's stayed with its primary focus on whom it wanted (and succeeds) with its customers, White Spot tries to go upscale (and fails).

The problem is White Spot is trying to be like another cookie-cutter-restaurant-ala-Earl's-Milestone's-Joey's-Saltlik-CactusClub ( please tell me where is there any orginality with the owners ). White Spot fails to make simple food well, fries are cold, salad leaves are wilted/show mushiness and shouldn't be used.

The service was fine for what the restaurant is, the waiter was very efficient. The hostess was very cheery and accomodating.The place is clean enough. Our major complaint is if you are trying to go more upscale with your restaurant keep the food inline with your new image; Chuck Currie/John Bishop/Rob Feenie do you ever eat your own "creations" at White Spot restaurants when you do food quality checks? I really think not!

So let's start with the good points regarding Jiro:
-The waitresses are very, very pleasant! Having been to various Chinese/Asian run restaurants, the attempts at Jiro to serve customers Western style was refreshing. The servers smiled, used a warm tone of voice, and kept cool when busy.
-The food was prepared when ordered and was not premade ( it made the wait time for the food longer compared to other AYCE sushi places ), either that or they prefer to be understaffed and overwork employees.

The bad was:
-The decor was too outdated/worn ie. carpets, bench seats, walls , lighting, and there are no windows for a view outside.
-The fish tank as you first walk-in was a telling sign, it needed cleaning/updating. The same could be said of the entire restaurant.
-The rice came out too warm in the sushi, and it lacked proper marinating.

There are better tasting AYCE sushi places out there, but the servers here made for a much warmer eating enviroment compared to all the other AYCE restaurants.

As a dad of two kids ( and it being Mother's Day ) we thought we'd give Ninkazu a try for lunch. I thought I'd layout this review with the usual criteria that most others have used here, namely: service, atmosphere, food quality, and any other tidbits.

My wife and I were greeted with a warm reception by the manager at the door, my wife commented that she recognized him from the other Tomokazu and he pleasantly replied that he works at both restaurants from time to time. A good start to lunch rather than the much too often given Chinese restaurant service of sit-down-shut-up-eat-and-get-out-style.

The waitress was not very personable, but she did offer a smile at the end of the meal, and I noticed that she moved very fluidly throughout the entire room servicing other patrons. So all in all she was busy and efficient in her duties with about 12 tables and 4 people at the sushi bar this day. The other staff who took plates from the table to the people who dropped off the food were a little of everything, some of the guys were smiling and somewhat cheery, two waitresses were like this as well, and we received the ubiquitious Chinese style dump-and-run from our waitress and one other female.

We were shorted on our first order meaning 12 pieces of California Rolls came out as 6 pieces, 8 pieces of Tuna Rolls ordered became 4 pieces and so on. The second order came out more exact to what we wanted, and the waitress did not give us another sheet to fill out ( either she was psychic or she wanted us to stop ordering hmmm?).

The food was good, very consistent in quality and taste to other AYCE Chinese Sushi places with the usual fare you find at pretty much all of them. Nothing that made our taste receptors do backflips of sheer joy, but also nothing that made us ill or had the effect of turning off our hunger sensations. A good solid, pleasant taste from all items ordered.

You're limited to the amount of Sashimi you can order at lunch but that's to be expected, I mean lunch is only $9.95 on weekdays and an extra $1 on weekends/holidays. The kids were only $7.95 each.

To sum it all up, it was well worth the $40 ( not including tip ) spent on our family of four. Please do go to Ninkazu for a satisfying and filling lunch if you are in the area.

So we have 2 small ( 8 yr old & 4 yr old )typical Asian kids who like their sushi, and they like it fast. What better way then to go to AYCE sushi joints, they get fed quickly and the wife and I can usually get a few bites in before there's another meltdown between the two of them.

Now having said this we've often frequented Tomokazu and thought we'd give Shabusen on Granville a try. While the service is what one expects from a Chinese run restaurant ( not much waiter/customer banter ), the food comes quickly especially if you get in there once the restaurant opens. We made reservations for 5pm and the place filled up just as we left at 6:30pm.

The sushi was nicely infused, the sashimi was tender and nicely chilled, sushi cones were fine, the beef and chicken for self-grilling were adquately marinated, the squid not so tasty. Hot items from the kitchen ie. goyoza, oysters, chicken, etc. were okay, much like all the other AYCE places. Nothing really stood out, and nothing was really disagreeable.

To compare this restaurant to the other AYCE places...well suffice it to say we may have found aother place where parent and child can eat in ( almost ) complete harmony without fear of getting sick or having a bad service experience. We definitely will return.

One side note, as I was going to the bathroom I got both an eyefull and earfull inside the kitchen area, to those uninitiated to life inside a food establishment this can be a good way to lose your will to dine.